Women’s and Gender Studies Mission Statement

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program at IUP is committed to the preservation, expansion, and transmission of knowledge about women and gender. The program is committed to offering quality undergraduate courses, to offering a minor course of study, and to working towards gender balance in Liberal Studies and across the curriculum.

The program has a responsibility to transmit knowledge about women and gender to undergraduate students and other individuals in both the university community and the larger community. Students in Women’s Studies courses are expected to:

Value the experiences and contribution of women

Achieve a global understanding and respect for people from diverse backgrounds

Achieve a deeper level of self-understanding

Acquire sensitivity to gender issues

Acquire the ability to critique traditional theories and methods of knowledge generation for gender bias

The Women’s Studies program is committed to encouraging intellectual excellence, research, and scholarship on women and gender and to stimulating continued intellectual growth for faculty and students.

The Women’s Studies program is committed to working for educational equity and for a campus environment free of sexism, racism, and other forms of discriminatory treatment.

The Women’s Studies program is committed to governing itself in a cooperative and participatory manner.